Monday, June 27, 2011

KScope 11: Cary Millsap

Today was a big day for me, my first Cary Millsap (@carymillsap) presentation.

I slept in, preparing my mind and body for the event (and missing the keynote) (it had nothing to do with beer consumed either).

My Case for Agile Methods

Not only is it my first time seeing him speak (yesterday counts, sort of), but it's something I can actually understand and have a very strong opinion about. Not that Thinking Clearly About Performance is way over my head, but it doesn't affect me as much as methodology does.

I fight with methodology on a daily basis, mostly resulting in me hitting my head against the closest wall.

I find that when I don't tweet or I'm not inclined to check my mail or twitter, something is going on that has my attention. That was the case this morning (minus a small family emergency that was eventually averted).

The slide deck itself was minimal, but very well done.

With his reputation as a technical leader in the Oracle community, you know you're going to get great content.

The good stuff is in Cary's style or delivery.

He tells stories.

I love stories. I live for stories. If you've met me, I'm sure I've told you a few as well.

It's easier, I think, to relate to stories. You can see yourself in the other person's shoes. Or something like that.

As to the content...I don't think it was anything ground breaking and I believe Cary knew that. What was ground breaking is the audience.

Database developers and DBAs in the Oracle ecosystem, seem to think it a dirty word. That's of course a gross generalization, but save for my very first IT employer, it's been true (1 for 8, batting .167 .125 (thanks Cary)) for me.

I want to see more of this type of talk, the "how" and "why" as opposed to just the technical details of doing a particular task. I can read the docs, I can figure that out. Putting it all into context is the hard part.